//------------------------------// // The First Journey // Story: The Fractured Unity // by Time Reaper //------------------------------// As Twilight and her friends were waiting for Diamantis to finally come to the train station, it was impossible to ignore the air of annoyance they were feeling right now. Sure, the idea of going to one of the great hives and to know more about them sounded good, but they still would have preferred it if Diamantis told them of her plan to take them to it, days before the invitation could come. Still, it was quite strange to say the least. "Ah still don't get it though" -. Said Applejack, still annoyed at this turn of events, as she made sure that her hat wasn't falling over. - "Why do we have to go along with her when her hive isn't done yet?" Twilight simply sighed at this, perfectly understanding where Applejack was coming from but still feeling the necessity to explain what was going on. "That's because Diamantis considers it important to have all of us going with her, so we can start getting familiarized with how changelings live as well, so she can prove how ready she is to have a hive." Even though Twilight's words explained the situation well enough, they still found themselves on an unfair situation at their lack of choices on the matter. As they were still waiting for Diamantis, Rarity decided to bring up some questions to make some time. "So, Twilight dear" -. Twilight turned at Rarity to see what she wanted. - "Has Diamantis told you anything about this hive we're going to or about this queen we are about to visit?" "Well" -. Twilight started to remember. - "From what Diamantis has explained me, this hive is called Castleen and is, I think, the most populated hive as well as the second most powerful hive among the changelings." Rainbow Dash perked up at this as her other friends gave this a thought. "Wow, really!? And Diamantis is going to be under her protection? That sounds awesome." "I know Rainbow Dash. And we already know her queen: Fortis." "Oh!" - Rarity continued. - "Its that nice queen that acts so well mannered and treats everypony so well?" - Twilight nodded. - "Well, now I am quite eager to meet her properly" -. Rarity then looked at her three bags holding her clothes. - "Oh, I hope I brought enough for this journey, now I feel I'm going with a great lack of clothing for this preparation." But, before Rarity could even move back to her house, Diamantis made her appearance on the station, disguised as the same brown pony they all saw that day she foalnapped them, as she appeared with only one small bag following her, much to Rarity's worry. "Diamantis, dear, is that all you are going to take for something as monumental, as, meeting the queen you are going to recognize as your leader? I fear that may not be enough." Diamantis looked at Rarity with a great amount of confidence on her face as she responded. "Do not worry, Rarity, I am carrying all I need for this journey. The invitation, bits, some food, books to read and scrolls in case I find something worth noting. Since I don't have a hive yet I have no need to wear any type of special clothes for the occasion. Now, if you excuse me, I have to buy the tickets for the train." In that moment Twilight realized a problem that she never thought about: They were going to a changeling hive through the equestrian trains, and Diamantis didn't look aware enough to process on the implications of how said journey, could endanger the secrecy of Castleen's location; and she wasn't keen on figuring out how real were those myths of getting disappeared but, before she could even say something to her, Diamantis spoke first. "Now, I want you all waiting here as I buy the tickets, you could arise some suspicions." As all the mares got baffled by that statement, they decided to wait and see what Diamantis was planning to do. They saw how she got close to the booth, she started to talk and everything looked fine. When she showed the money for the journey, the pony at the booth looked back at them and tried to mask a face that could spell worry, something that made Twilight and her friends wonder what they were talking about. In that moment, Diamantis showed what it looked like to be a badge of some kind and that made the pony freeze his face. He quickly took the badge and hid inside the booth, after a few seconds passed, he went out with seven tickets and gave them to Diamantis along her badge while trying to keep a happy face. Twilight and her friends were shocked at what they saw. They weren't sure, but they all knew that something happened in there that wouldn't, normally, happen had the two of them been a pony, but it was hard to say what. In the end, Diamantis came along with a happy expression as she showed the seven tickets for them. "You see? No problem. Now, let's wait for the train to come and" -, in that moment a whistling came, telling all of them that the train was about to stop, - "Oh, never mind. Here it is, well let's get on board." She then gave six tickets to Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie respectively as they eyed the ticket out to see what it could be saying, but their faces went with shock as they read the direction the ticket spelled for them as the train finally stopped. "Wait a minute!" - Said Pinkie Pie. - "I know this direction, is in the middle of nowhere and is hours away from here." Nopony wanted to ask Pinkie how she knew where it exactly was, but the feeling was the same and Diamantis didn't look fazed by this. "Don't worry, that is why I brought some books, so we can read while waiting on the journey." As all the ponies except Twilight sighed at the statement, Twilight decided to wait a few minutes with Diamantis while the other mares entered into the train and asked her from where she got the books. It shouldn't have surprised Twilight that Diamantis took them from the library, but it did surprise her that Diamantis actually borrowed it by following the library's rules, and that Diamanti's selection of books went from pony magic to even politics. Once the train opened, they started to to enter but, as this was happening, Twilight had to make a brief pause before entering when she saw a couple of blue and yellow feathers on the ground, as well as some streaks of pink hair on the ground. She had her ideas of what they were, but she didn't want to pressure the owners of this feathers, and hair, about it. The train then departed to the west of Ponyville as all the mares started to chat with Diamantis about Hive Castleen and how it was. She started to make a sheepish smile as she tried to answer: "Well..." - She began. - "It's a very nice place to visit. I remember how my mom and I would go there whenever both her and Queen Castis had to make some discussions of relationships between hides, meanwhile, I would be sightseeing the hive to do something fun." "Queen Castis?" - Asked Twilight with slight concern. - "Was she the previous queen before Fortis?" - Diamantis nodded. - "And what happened to her?" Diamantis looked at the ground with some nerves before answering as if dodging a question. "Well, both her and her first daughter, princess Manticoris, died not too long ago. This makes Fortis the next in the line of succession." "Oh, I'm so sorry for her" -. Responded a worried Fluttershy. - "I don't know how I would feel if my parents or my brother passed away..." "Indeed, darling" -, continued Rarity, - "At the very least we have a better understanding of why this coronation is so important" -. She then put her right hoof on her head as she started to dramatically speak, revealing, without realizing, her developing fangs. - "Oh! The tragedy! She lost her closest relatives and now must endure being a queen when she wasn't even supposed to be it! And the worst part, I didn't even bring the right clothes for the event neither did a proper dress for the new queen!" Diamantis made a sheepish smile as she tried to calm Rarity down. "Oh, don't worry, she probably already has some drones making the ceremony dress for her and we aren't supposed to bring gifts, our presence alone will suffice." All the mares got weird out at this. "Really?" - Asked Twilight with a slight concern as she turned her head sideways. - "And why not? I thought that royals would bring presents for such an event." "Well, not necessarily" -. Diamantis continued. - "It used to be a custom but the practice was stopped a few decades ago; now, the presence of a royal works as an indicator of who recognizes the newest queen. The same way, depending of who goes also works as a mean to show how much respect is given to the new queen, and that's also why I'm bringing you with me, that way I'm showing my recognition as much as I can to Queen Fortis." Twilight's eyes quickly bulged, realizing that this was the perfect opportunity to increase Celestia's relationship with Queen Fortis, and it was also right then when she lamented never bringing Spike with her, leaving him back at the library to take care of everything while she and the girls went to this hive. "Why you didn't tell me?" - Asked a baffled Twilight. - "I could have told Celestia so I could act as her representative and show that Equestria also recognized her as a queen." Diamantis gave it a thought before quickly answering back with worry. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea Twilight, we're still not allowed to interact with ponies and Celestia putting her hoof right now could cause a political scandal that, right now, would only harm our unity in the long term." "Wait, we?" - Applejack rebutted. - "Ah'm sorry little lady but we're still not changelings as far Ah'm aware." Diamantis made a smug smile before answering. "Oh, really? Then how come that Rainbow's and Fluttershy's feathers are falling? Or Pinkie's hair is shedding or Twilight's eyes are transforming? Or that Rarity is growing Fangs? And, are you really that determined to keep that hat on your head?" All the mares quickly blushed at this remark, not able to admit the reality of what they had to endure, starting for Rainbow Dash. "That's not it!" - She said with a slight denial in her angered voice. - "I'm just shedding my feathers a little earlier, that's it." Diamantis then looked at Rainbow with a serious look before responding. "Are you really sure of that? I understand that you don't want to admit it but once those wings fall off, you'll have to admit it" -. She then looked at the rest of the mares with a serious look which was very unusual of her. - "Once we get the permission, you'll have to tell your family of this before they realize too late what is happening to you. That is why one of my plans is to speak with each one of my subjects to help them cope with their transformation and that includes you, so once we get back, we'll have this conversation. Understood?" Twilight and her friends looked at each other with a certain feeling of shame as they all nodded to Diamantis, accepting for now their fate. After that, not much of interest happened except for Diamantis asking both Twilight and Rarity about Equestrian society and how it moved as well as all about magic and history, something which both mares enjoyed talking about. Meanwhile, Pinkie and Rainbow would be discussing about what kind of pranks they could pull out once they turn into changelings and Fluttershy and Applejack discussed about what kind of animals could live in Castleen (although for different reasons). Hours later, the train started to make a stop in the middle of nowhere, with only a simple platform waiting for them and a large barn with a big house not too faraway from it, and it was in that moment when Diamantis rose from her seat. "Alright, we reached our station!" All the mares looked at her as well as the station and wondered if she was right at all, there was nothing but green plains and an endless extension of pasture going in front of them, as if that was the only thing on existence on this forsaken place on the planet, but they decided to follow Diamantis nonetheless and wondered if those empty plains were just a facade. As they left the station and went to the small barn in the hopes of finding something, they started to hear a distinct sound that broke the quiet silence created by the plains they were into. The more they closed into the barn the more they noticed how dead it seemed at first glance with its old wall that cried for a new cape of fresh paint, the splintered wood that screamed to be replaced for something more durable, the lack of farmers at the vicinity with the exception of one pony that was creating the noise they were hearing as they got closer to the barn. It was the sound of an axe chopping wood. This pony stallion in question, looked as if the passage of the seasons were already wearing him down, but still holding enough physical strength to work around for an extra couple of years. He was chopping pieces of wood with a large axe and, from the mountain of wood besides him, it looked like if he had been at that for the whole day. As the mares and Diamantis came across, the stallion looked at them with suspicion in his eyes and stopped his axing as he decided to address them, with a tone of voice that only showed doubt and a silent fierceness, coming out as rude for the mares and changeling queen. "Greetings, what reason do you mares have to visit our farm?" Applejack took a closer look at the barn, wondering what kind of farm this was, as well as why would such stallion be so rude to a group of visitors. Nonetheless, Diamantis acted as if nothing was wrong. "Greetings, good sir!" - She said with joy and confidence in her voice. - "My name is Queen Diamantis and I was invited by Queen Fortis to her coronation" -. She then took out her invitation and showed it to the stallion, who gave it a good read before giving it back to her. - "And I would like to know if you have a mean for us to get there or at least give us a direction to move around on this plains." The stallion eyed Diamantis, still in pony form, for a while with scrutiny, same as with Twilight and her friends as they felt his gaze searching for any kind of danger. He then answered with a tired voice that spoke slowly and gave a big emphasis on the strong syllables as he showed no emotion on his speech. "And what about them?" - He said as he aimed his hoof at Twilight and her friends. - "Are they aware of where they are or are they here by accident?" Diamantis looked at Twilight and her friends as she deciphered what the stallion meant before answering. "Oh, no. They are ponies but they will become part of my hive so they are coming with me for this celebration." The stallion gave them all a piercing look and with a fierceness. It made Applejack remember how Big Mac could look when angry, even when looking calm, but then his eyes relaxed as he turned to the barn and shouted. "Morgul! Casius!" Two young stallions, an orange one and a brown one, came out from behind the farm not too long after that, with a build that Applejack recognized as still learning how to do the chores in a farm. The brown one quickly talked to the old stallion, as the orange one started to look at Diamantis and her group with the curiosity common of colts that never came out of the house, or weren't aware of the outside world. The brown one had a similar accent as the old stallion but with more energy on his voice and determination as he spoke. "Yes papa?" "Go and call Raphus, Guri, Wilder and Welder. Tell them that it's important and..." - he then eyed Diamantis as he made his last part on the order. - "warn them to hold their tongues. We have fine ears in here." "Yes Papa!" The two colts shouted before leaving and running behind the barn to who knows where, leaving the mares and changelings alone in an uncomfortable air of distrust and alienation, whose silence no one had the courage to dispel. A couple of minutes later, the two colts came back with a group of well made stallions, whose body shape could very well compete with Big Mac in a strength competition. An image that made more than one mare blush for a brief second as the old stallion talked to the young ones with his slow paced voice. "Listen to me, here, this fine ladies are here to see the coronation of our little thunder" -. All the mares turned their heads as they heard that name and tried to figure out what it meant as the old stallion continued. - "So I want the four of you" -. He said as he aimed at the strong stallions with his hoof. - "To take them to the hive on the cart. Considering how dangerous is the road, the four of you will do a fine entourage to protect them, should something bad appear in the journey and you" -. He then aimed at the two young colts. - "will be driving the cart as these four are pulling the cart." The four stallions' faces got shocked and were about to respond, when the old stallion responded with a cold ice tone of voice that sounded more threatening than it should, considering his tone of voice. "And if any of you dares to complain, you will be herding Ye Old Herd for a whole year and through the fire cutter route. Understood?" The stallions were about to probably complain, but then the old stallion started to get closer to them and, as he got closer to them, his eyes started to show some degrees of anger that scared both the stallions and the mares. Making the stallions to remain shut and went to bring the cart. As this happened, Applejack couldn't stop herself from wondering what kind of farm this was, and why would a changeling queen would have something like this so separated from her hive. "Ahm" -. Applejack voiced. - "Excuse me sir." The stallion turned around and started to look at her with certain scrutiny as he answered with a voice that only showed distrust for the stranger. "Yes?" Applejack gulped as she tried to make her next question very carefully. "Huh, well, you see, Ah'm Applejack, from the Apple Family" -. The old stallion didn't show any signs of interest or recognition at the name, bringing nerves to the poor Applejack. - "We are a family of farmers and, as fellow farmers, Ah would like to know what kind of farm this is." The old stallion scrutinized Applejack as the mare wondered if she didn't cross any type of taboo when making the question but, at the end, he decided to answer on his slow accent. "Manure." As Rarity started to feel disgust, the other mares could only ask again 'what?' "Manure" -. The old stallion repeated once more. - "We have multiple cattle of cows so we can produce, mainly, manure out of them. We use that manure to export it to other farmers. We also produce milk, leather and meat." The mares were starting to feel slightly sick but the old stallion kept on talking. "We use this expands of land to move the cows into other pastures, where they can eat peacefully and we later collect their manure, and milk, to later sell it to other ponies; while the cows that are too old to move are given the euthanasia, so we can later trade its meat and skin with other hives that need it either to trade it with carnivore species or for themselves." Applejack was about to raise her hoof to ask the old stallion to stop but he then said something else that took her off guard. "Your family is our biggest manure buyer." Applejack froze at that, unable to register that information. A few minutes later, the cart appeared, being pulled by the four stallions and being lead by the two young stallions. It was a cart very much reminiscent of the carts used in Appleloosa. With a roof to stop the sun and a small set of windows for the mares to look around. As they were boarding it, Twilight couldn't help but to listen the conversation between the old stallion and the young ones. "Alright, listen here, you colts. This aren't simple mares. One of them is a queen, and the other are very important ponies, so make sure nothing happen to them, understood?" "Yes papa!" "Also, while the travel may be dangerous, Marcel's group left this morning for hunting so all you have to do is to keep your eyes up and make sure nothing takes you by surprise, understood?" "Yes papa!" "And, finally, if I discover you stood in the hive when I need you here, working on the farm, I'll send you to fish alligators for a week. Understood?" "Y-yes... papa..." "Good, now move it! I need you here working for tomorrow!" And with that, the cart departed, allowing the mares to see how behind the huge barn was a medium sized house that looked about to fall apart, as it also needed some workaround, as they started to leave the place. Letting the old stallion to keep chopping some wood alone once more. As the cart moved around, the mares felt safe enough to talk about what they were recently told. "Can you believe such a thing?" - Rarity begun. - "Diamantis, dear, when you told me that changeling hives made their own businesses to finance themselves I never expected such disgusting practices." "Huh? What do you mean?" "She means about the manure" -. Rainbow added right away. - "But also, seriously? Meat? Do you know how unethical it is to sacrifice cows for bits? How would you feel if your carapace were used to make money?" Diamantis started to look around, trying to find a proper way to answer that question. "Well... there are records that we used old carapaces to add extra layers of armor whenever we went to battle so there is a probability that we used our carapaces to make money..." All the mares had their mouths hanged as Rainbow said what they were all feeling. "You are unbelievable." "Hey, don't take it so bad on the lady." All the mares tried to look around until they managed to see the young, orange, stallion looking at them from one of the windows as the cart was still moving. "We need to find our ways to survive and it isn't as if we felt happy when sacrificing someone like Miss Daisy." The mares were in shock but that feeling was quickly changed to annoyance at the uninvited guest. "Excuse me" -. Responded Rarity. - "But it is very rude to enter into a private conversation." The young stallion blushed as he tried to get out of the mess he was getting into. "My apologies, good ladies, but it was hard to not listen when I can hear your voices on the driver's seat." Twilight and her friends started to blush at this, realizing that they weren't as discreet as they wanted. "And I couldn't let you talk that way about papa's farm without knowing what we have to go through." "Go through?" - Twilight asked as she saw her friends with doubts. - "What do you mean by that?" The young stallion was going to answer when a green aura surrounded him and yanked him back to the front of the car as he was greeted by an angry brown young stallion. "Casius, what are you doing?" Casius tried to think about what he was doing before one of the stallions pulling the cart responded with great joy. "Isn't it clear Mogul? He is finally realizing that he needs to find a female juice to be the grown up he so much wants to be!" As the other three stallions started to laugh, Mogul simply blushed and quickly scoffed at the stallion. "Silence Welder! You know what papa said about your way of speaking and-" "And he said to not do it in front of the mares and we're not in front of them." This was quickly followed by another stallion answering in an almost comical way. "Besides, the one endangering us is Casius and his needs talking to foreigners." Casius quickly blushed as he tried to keep his cool. "Look, it's just that we rarely get visitors and I want to know more about them." "We don't get enough visitors?" - Asked Welder. - "Maybe we should see if Veritis can get the message and visit you over more often." As Casius and Mogul were turning red, Mogul quickly tried to shut them down and defuse the situation. "Is Princess Veritis now, and you should better shut up or, else, we'll tell papa what you were doing in the milking area when he sent us to look for you." The four stallions quickly froze as they started to shake in fear at that threat before Welder quickly recovered and responded back. "Alright, alright, we'll cut it out but you colt better watch out what you are going to talk about, because we don't know where they come from, alright?" The orange stallion slightly smiled as he went back to the cart's inside to talk to the mares. As he entered, he saw how they were looking at him expectantly except for the pink mare who, for some reason was blushing. He smiled as he asked if there was something wrong. "No, nothing" -. Answered Applejack. - "It's just... what was all that about?" "Oh!" - Responded Casius. - "No, it was just the colts being colts. So what were we talking about?" The mares looked at each other before reminding him about the 'problems' the farm was going through. "Oh, yeah! Those, well, there has recently been some wild animals hunting down the cows." As he said this, Applejack felt a chill running down her spine as she started to hope for nothing like that to ever happen to her farm. Just the idea of some manticore or chimera attacking Sweet Apple Acres scared her to no end, but that reminded her of something she heard just not too long ago. "So, that hunting group is to chase down the animals?" "Yeah" -. Casius added with no figment of sorrow. - "We just can't let them kill our cows and after killing Ms. Thabita last night, it's a matter of us or them." "Hum, excuse me" -. Fluttershy decided to ask. - "But why can't you just repel the monster or ask your queen for help? I don't think its right to kill an animal that has to hunt other animals to stay alive." Casius looked up for a while before cryptically answering. "Alright, before answering I need to know, what is your reason to go meet Queen Fortis?" Diamantis quickly answered, whether it was because she understood Casius' concern or because she was eager to answer away. "Oh, that's quite simple. I am going to become a queen very soon, so I am coming to her coronation as a evidence of my submission to her." Casius nodded and continued with his answer. "Well, at the beginning, when it was only one cow every few months, we were just increasing the security but, as time passed, more and more cows started to be taken to the point that even our guards were being killed in the process. As of now, we lost 20 cows and 6 guards. So we decided to start hunting them down before they kill the whole farm. Regarding asking the queen, that's a bit tough. You see, Castleen's territory is very expansive and most of our population are farmers, so there isn't many actual soldiers available to help, especially after what happened a few months ago. We lost too many guards after that encounter." "A few months ago?" - Twilight asked, just as Diamantis was realizing what was being brought up. - "What happened a few months ago?" Casius, not aware of who this mares were neither that their loyalties were to the Equestrian princesses, instead of the changeling monarchs, he was about to give them the information before Diamantis quickly shut him up and whispered to his ears. "This mares may be mine, but they are still ponies and their allegiance isn't clear enough yet. I have orders from Queen Fortis herself to not mention Anidis or the fight the queens had against her, and I warn you that they must not know about it." Casius quickly stammered before correcting himself and changing the conversation. "Don't worry about it" -. As he said this, Twilight and her friends were looking at Diamantis with some levels of annoyance but they said nothing. - "Well, the point is that the crown doesn't have enough resources to help us so we have to take care of the problem on our own." "Wait a minute!" - Interrupted Rainbow Dash. - "You want to tell me that you have been hunting dangerous animals on your own? - Casius simply nodded. - "Are you actual changelings?" - Casius nodded, not understanding the reasoning behind the question. - "I don't believe it!" Casius, feeling angered at this, started to respond quickly. "Of course I am. The only reason we wear this pony shapes of because we are so close to that train station, but I have no fear of being what I am." In that moment his body lighted into green flames, revealing his real changeling body shape, which wasn't too different from what Twilight and her friends saw from the wedding. The only difference being how his body was much more colorful with some shades of orange and yellow, and he had less holes on his hoofs and his voice remained the same. "As you can see, I am a changeling and I have no fear of any animal that hurts my family." "Family?" - Applejack asked. - "You see this farm as your family?" - Casius nodded. - "How so?" "Well, it's kind of hard to explain. You see, Castleen's farms are separated from each other, to the point where those living in the farm are the only inhabitants you may ever know in your whole life so we end up seeing each other as family. That is why we feel so bad whenever our cows are attacked by wild animals." This way of life got the interest of the equestrians as they started to wonder more about this changelings, after all, if Castleen was the second most powerful hive, why were its subject in such a bad state. "So" -, Twilight continued, - "I remember your papa calling Queen Fortis 'our little thunder', do you know why is that?" Casius features light up as she mentioned it but, remembering what Diamantis told him, he decided to be very careful with the information he was about to indulge. "Well, that's because he personally know Queen Fortis." Twilight's eyes bulged as she heard this, quickly prompting Casius to continue. "You see, since long before I even came to the farm, former Princess Fortis visits our farm to constantly check how are we. Sometimes the visits are for royal reasons, like overseeing the production of our goods, but more often than not, she visited us to see papa and our family. Granted, now that she is going to be now Queen Fortis, that means that she won't be able to visit us as often, which has made papa slightly sad." In that moment Pinkie Pie interjected, trying to give her piece on this matter. "Don't worry, we can later make a party with the two of them so they can spend some time together." Casius gave the idea a thought, wondering how the equestrian parties worked and hoping that it could help papa to feel better before thanking Pinkie Pie. "And that's it?" - Asked Rarity. - "There's nothing else the crown can do to provide your farm with help against that vermin? How do you even know that they are worried about your farm's well being" Casius gave it a thought before answering confidently. "Yes, I am certain that the queens always have us on their minds. We help them and they ensure that we have what we need, it's a good system. And it isn't as if we cannot do anything on our own, that is why we have a hunting party right now going after them." The mares started to look at each other with doubt at the potential overconfidence, Rainbow Dash being the one voicing her concern. "Are you sure about that? I mean, we are speaking about at least one manticore and those aren't simple things. How do you plan to take care of them?" ROAR That sound was so familiar that all the mares opened the cart and looked outside as it stopped so everybody could watch how a manticore was running from a pair of changelings using lazos. While it looked amazing for the common eye, Applejack could see how skillful this changelings were. Even when flying at high speed, this changelings were able to remain on the manticore's side, making it to move wherever they wanted as it tried to run away from its chasers. Eventually, the two changelings started to move their lazos at the air with a finesse that took Applejack years to master as they were looking at their prey with complete calm in their eyes. The manticore tried to run away but no matter where it ran into, the two changelings were always on its sides and chasing it away with their lazos and, suddenly, with only a simple shout, the two changelings threw their lazos at the beast's neck, perfectly passing through its head without clashing each other out, and pulled in opposite directions. The manticore started to feel how the two lazos were suffocating it as it tried to lash out and cut the ropes holding his neck but, as it tried to move, more lazos came out of nowhere, as the rest of the hunting pack showed up and started to subjugate the beast as it failed to save its life. Eventually, its eyes glazed out and stopped moving as it no longer was capable of breathing and its body no longer had the air to function; which brought the changelings to gleefully shout in satisfaction at this. Meanwhile, Twilight and her friends were shocked at how a bunch of farmers subdued and killed such fearsome beast without even using magic. If this were the common folk of the Castleen hive, then they didn't want to imagine how dangerous were their Royal Guards. After that, the mares didn't have much more to talk about and they preferred to either see the views out of the cart or chat with Casius about how they took care of the cows or if they had plans to farm other types of goods as well as talking about how was life in Equestria and Ponyville, something he took with great interest. In the end, as the hours passed, they all fell asleep on the road. They woke up when the cart suddenly stopped and they started to hear shouts outside the cart as the night was already beginning to set in. "Halt! Who are you and why are you taking this cart to the castle!" Mogul's response sounded weak and filled with doubts and fear. "I am from the north-eastern farms, the Magnus Farms" -. Applejack almost shout with surprise when she heard the name. - "And I'm here to deliver a group of changelings invited by the queen herself to witness the coronation." "Really!? Then why are you still looking like a pony and, to corroborate your testimony, would you then pass us the permissions so we could-" "Is that you Mogul!?" This new voice sounded with energy and happiness that could only be compared with Pinkie Pie, making them all curious as of who were the newcomer although they, including Diamantis, only felt shock when they heard the answer to their silent question as Mogul responded. "Princess Veritis? Wh-What are you doing here?" "Oh! I'm here to welcome all the changelings, both royals and common folk, that comes here to see my mom's coronation!" The energy and happiness was becoming too familiar to Twilight, now wondering what could possibly happen if this princess ever met Pinkie Pie. The fear became higher when she remembered that they were going to meet her very soon. "Princess!" - The guard's voice sounded cautious and worried, as if this wasn't the first time the princess has done this kind of acts. - "You should wait inside the castle while we check if this drone is transporting what he claim to be transporting." "Oh, don't worry! I know Mogul, if he is here then that means that Papa Magnus" - Applejack almost choke herself once again when she heard that name. - "deemed this changelings safe for us!" "Princess, you really aren't trusting those low-" "YES! I! AM!" "Princess!" "Mogul!" "Hum- Yes? Princess?" "First, you can call me Veritis, second, is Casius inside the cart? You two are never apart and, thirdly, don't you think this is amazing? My mom is going to become a queen and-" "Yes, Casius is in there!" In that moment the cart opened and Twilight, her friends and Diamantis saw a grinning changeling that looked like she was starting to develop her royal features, with features such as the cat-like irises, starting to grow or the first signs of a crown starting to grow on her head. Her carapace was of a mixture between the colors chrome, steel and platinum, with the platinum being the one showing the most, as her life-filled eyes were of a bright golden color while her mane was vibrating a bronze-like color that, almost, shone as if it were the real metal, she was grinning a contagious smile that only showed love of the kind only a true friend could give to another and that it was willing to become friends with anyone. She looked at the ponies with no signs of hatred, disgust or predatory eyes while seeing at Diamantis with an air of familiarity (even though this two has never met before) and then her eyes filled with an extreme joy that only Pinkie Pie could understand, as she set her views on the orange changeling that knew her since they could remember. "Hi Casius, I'm so glad to see you here, I was so afraid that you would miss mom's coronation but now you and Mogul are here and we can see together the coronation tomorrow and, look at this, you brought friends, are you the ones invited by my mom to recognize her as a queen? If that's so, great, I love to meet new changelings, they are all so different and colorful and they all bring interesting stories of their homes, do you have stories? Why are you still looking like ponies? You live among ponies? I hope you can then tell me about them later but, for now, I would like to say: Welcome to Hive Castleen!"